Community News area teams look to postseason tournaments in basketball

The Bergen County Girls Basketball Tournament and the Bergen County Jamboree will be starting this weekend and several area teams are expected to compete.

On the girls side Immaculate Conception will lead the local group and is looking for a top five seed in the tournament. Schools like Wallington, Hasbrouck Heights are Fair Lawn were building on their records with Tuesday's deadline (after press deadline). Wood-Ridge girls also look like they will make the tournament.

On the boys side a .650 record that includes Thursday’s games will give a team an automatic bid in the Bergen Jamboree. Wood-Ridge, Garfield and Elmwood Park are expected to return to the tournament, while Hasbrouck Heights will need to defeat American History on Tuesday (after press deadline) and St. Mary in Rutherford on Thursday to qualify.

Girls basketball

In a battle of two of the nice surprises this season, Wallington nipped Hasbrouck Heights, 40-35, on Jan. 15.

In the back-and-forth North Jersey Interscholastic Conference (NJIC) Meadowlands Division contest, Wallington was too tough for Heights. The Lady Panthers just had a little too much balanced scoring compared to the Lady Aviators. Martyna Czarnecka’s eight points turned out to be the difference for Wallington.

Stefanie Pagan had a game-high 18 points for Hasbrouck Heights, while Tiffany Vellis led the Lady Panthers with 15. Cheyenne Burbank had nine for Wallington while Stacey Porzl chipped in nine for the Aviators.

Wallington continues to be one of the biggest surprises this season and took care of Ridgefield, 39-36, on Friday in a NJIC crossover contest.

Vellis and Burbank scored 11 points each to lead the Lady Panthers in defeating a scrappy Lady Royals team.

The victory raised Wallington’s record to 11-1.

Garfield received a quality victory on Thursday with a 55-49 win at home against Manchester in a NJIC Colonial Division battle.

Lady Boilermakers senior Ariana Gomez continued to add to her 1000-point career with a game-high 27 points as Garfield held on in the fourth quarter. Gabby Kramer added 13 points including three, three-pointers.

Before losing to Paramus Catholic, Fair Lawn defeated the Wayne high schools in back-to-back contests last week.

The Lady Cutters first defeated Wayne Valley, 45-36, on Jan. 15 on the road and then took care of Wayne Hills, 49-34, at home against Wayne Hills on Thursday.

Alexandria Kerr scored 17 points to head the Fair Lawn scoring attack against Wayne Valley as the Cutters broke open a 27-27 tie heading into the fourth quarter. Tia Solomon added eight points to the Fair Lawn cause.

Against Wayne Hills the Lady Cutters took a 27-19 lead at halftime and kept the Lady Patriots from coming back.

Stephanie Johnson led a balanced Fair Lawn attack against Wayne Hills with eight points. Kerr and Sam Colca added six points for the Lady Cutters.

Boys Basketball

Elmwood Park battled toe-to-toe with Non-Public A powerhouse St. Joseph only to drop a 59-51 decision at home in an independent game.

The loss dropped the Crusaders’ record to 11-2 on the season. Andre Frasier led Elmwood Park with 22 points, while Jahmad Green added 19. The Crusaders were only down by three, 26-23 at halftime.

Wood-Ridge also stepped out of the NJIC and took on Group 3 school, West Milford, at the Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge at Kennedy High School in Paterson.